Female connector strip with interchangeably retained contact springs

ABSTRACT

A female connector strip having contact springs which are interchangeably retained in a contact chamber. The contact chamber has a rectangular cross-section with each of the contact springs being of substantially U-shaped cross-section and having a box-shaped supporting body. The springs have contact points consisting of two ends of the limbs of the U-profile which, within the range of one face side of the supporting body are extended and folded towards the inside, the ends being directed towards each other. Further, the resilient ends of the contact reeds are touching each other.

United States Patent Kreutter 1 Oct. 31, 1972 [54] FEMALE CONNECTORSTRIP WITH 3,047,831 7/1962 Majewski ..339/ 176 INTERCHANGEABLY RETAINED3,426,320 2/1969 Wilm...-. ..339/258 CONTACT SPRINGS 3,289,146 11/1966Tuchei ..339/ 176 1 3,202,959 8/1965 Keller ..-..339/2l7 S [721 InventErich Kreumr, Wmierbach, 3,363,224 1/19 8 Gluntz ..-...339/258 many 1[73] Assignee: ITT Industries, Inc., New York, 'f' Exami' 'er"MarvinChampion NX. Assistant Examiner-Robert A. Hafer Attorney-C. CornellRemsen, Jr., Walter J. Baum, 2] Filed: Jan. 29, 1971 Paul W.l-lemminger, Percy P. Lantzy and Thomas E. 21 Appl. No.: 110,899 Kmmffemi [57] ABSTRACT [30] Fore'gn Apphcatmn Pnomy Data I A female connectorstrip having contact springs which Feb. 4, 1970 Germany.. ..P 20 05100.7 are interchangeably retained in a contact chamber. Thecontactchamber has a rectangular cross-section [52] US. Cl- ..339/217 S,339/177 R, 339/256 R with each of the contact springs being ofsubstantially- 51 1111.0. -1101: 9/08 p cross-section and having abox-shaped 9- [58] Field 61 Search ..339/217, 252, 256, 258, 177,Porting body- The p s have Contact Points consist- 339/210 211 215 ingof two ends of the l1mbs of the U-profile which, v within the range ofone face side of the supporting body are extended and folded towards theinside, the [56] References Cited ends being directed towards eachother. Further, the UNITED STATES PATENTS resilient ends of the contactreeds are touching each th 3,047,832 7/1962 Deakin ..339/217 3 er1,841,736 l/l932 Jones ..339/217 S 2 Claims, 4 Drawing FiguresPATENTEDncrauswz 3.701.967

11 \W/Z 14 5 161 1Q,

Fig.4

INVENTOR ATTORNEY FEMALE CONNECTOR STRIP WITH INTERCHANGEABLY RETAINEDCONTACT SPRINGS The present invention relates to a female connectorstrip with contact springs which are interchangeably retained'in thecontact chambers, for use in telecommunication engineering, or any othercommunicationprocessing technique.

Prior art female connector strips typically contain contact springs ofvarious designs in their contact chambers. One widely known feature ofsuch contact springs is the bifurcated design thereof. These contactsare made of two equal halves which, within the range of the connectinglugs, are joined together by way of spot welding. In another embodiment,the bifurcated contact spring is made of one piece. It comprises a U-shapedly bent center part, with the contact springs being arranged in aface-sided extension of the U-limbs.

In order to achieve good spring properties, the crosssection of thecontact springs is tapered in direction towards the ends thereof. On theopposite face side of the center part a connecting lug is provided. Inthe described embodiments the spring limbs of the contacts areunprotected until inserted in the female connector strip, and thuslikely to be damaged, by excessive widening. These types of forkedcontact springs, moreover, are also unsuitable for being used when therectangularly bent-off connecting lugs thereof are to be soldered intoprinted circuit boards, because a special mounting of the body of thefemale connector strip is required.

The present invention is based on the problem of providing a femaleconnector strip whose contact springs are suitable for embodying aconnector of small size having a large number of poles. In additionthereto, the contact springs are supposed to permit a miniaturizedconstruction of the female connector strip. Part of the problem is tofind a way to arrange the limbs of the springs, in such manner that theyare also protected in cases where the contact spring is positionedoutside a contact chamber. According to the invention this isaccomplished in a contact chamber having a rectangular cross-section.Completely passing through the female connector strip, there issupported a contact spring of substantially U-shaped cross-sectionhaving a boxshaped supporting body, with the contact reeds thereofconsisting of the two ends of the limbs of the U-profile which, withinthe range of one face side of the supporting body are extended andfolded towards the inside, with these ends being arranged to be directedtowards each other, in such a way that the resilient ends of the contactreeds within the supporting body touch each other.

According to one embodiment of the invention there is provided in thebottom of the box-shaped supporting body a recess of U-shaped contourcapable of being engaged by a locking tongue.

According to a further embodiment of the invention both the recess andthe cutout portions which are provided at the limb-ends of theU-profile, constitute engaging surfaces for the supporting body. In afurther embodiment of the invention, randomly on one or both face sidesof the supporting body, in continuation of its land portions connectingthe U-limbs, there are provided the connecting lugs.

According to another embodiment of the invention, it is provided thatthe female connector strip, on the plug-in side, comprises a projectingportion projecting into the contact chamber, and that the contactchamber opening on this side is provided with bevelled insertion edges.

According to a further feature of the invention, the contact spring inthe contact chamber leads with one face side against a shoulder formedby the projecting portion, whereas at the same time, its locking tongueengages the recess passing through the female connector strip from theoutside to the contact chamber.

Finally, in an additional type of embodiment of the invention, theangularly bent off connecting lugs of the contact spring, within thefemale connector strip range,

are arranged to engage slots provided on the open sides of the contactchamber in the female connector strip.

By the special design according to the invention it is possible toattain different advantages. The contact springs permit the use offemale connector strip bodies made of one piece, providing for a simpledesign of the contact chambers. The contact spring itself is made of onepiece and comprises an engaging device. The resilient parts areprotected within the supporting body, thus avoiding deformations fromthe outside. Moreover, U-shaped design of the contact spring can be wellmastered from the production-technical point of view.

By folding the contact reeds, the thickness of the material is doubled,thus increasing the mechanical stability of the contact spring. Theconnecting lugs can be led away from both ends of the contact springrandomly, and may be designed to have any suitable'shape. Moreover, thecontact spring may also be processed economically by suspension from atape. Finally, the female connector strip is suitable for being used'inaccordance with the piling technique, where several female connectorstrips are plugged on to correspondingly long contact pins. v

The advantages of this invention, both as to its construction and modeof operation, will be readily appreciated as the same become better.understood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which likereference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures.

FIG. 1 depicts a contact spring as viewed from its plugin side;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the contact spring of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of the contact spring of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 shows the partial sectional view of a female connector strip withcontact spring mounted therein.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, the contact spring 1 is shown made of onepiece construction. The spring consists of an oblong supporting body 2of substantially U- shaped cross-section designed to have the'shape of abox. Within the range of one face side of the supporting body 2, theends of the limbs of the U-profile are extended and in such a way bentover inwardly, as to be lying flatly against each other. In-thedirection of the opposite face side of the supporting body 2, thebentover limb ends continue as the contact reeds 3. These reeds arearranged in relation to one another, in such a way that their ends toucheach other either under pressure, or only have a small spacing betweenthem. In order to avoid insertable (not shown) contact pins from beingdamaged, the ends of the contact reeds are slightly bent off. This formsa slight funnel-shaped opening 4 between the ends thereof. The landportion of the supporting body 2 connecting the limbs of the U- profile,is randomly extended on one or both of the face sides. This extension isdesigned as a connecting lug 5 which may either be of the stretched orangularly bentoff type. The bottom of the box-shaped supporting body 2comprises a recess 6 of U-shaped design produced by way of punching.Owing to the shape of the recess or cutout 6 there will remain a tonguewhich, when slightly bent or lifted towards the outside, will act as alocking tongue 7.

Manufacture of the contact spring 1 is effected by punching it out of aresilient sheet metal, and cutting free the contours of the contactspring 1 as projected in a plane. The width of the cutout 6 is chosen sothat during the subsequent rolling up, or the following bendingprocesses to which the contact spring is subjected, there will be formedthe supporting surfaces 8. The ends of the U-limbs, within the range ofthe face sides of the supporting body 2, likewise form supportingsurfaces 9 which respectively result from a correspondingly arrangedrecess or cutout 10.

FIG. 4 shows a contact spring as inserted in the contact chamber 11 ofthe female connector strip 12. The female connector strip 12 which ismade in one piece from an insulating material, contains several suchcontact chambers 11 which all have a rectangular crosssection, andextend through the female connector strip 12 in one or two rows arrangedin parallel relation. At one end of the contact chamber there isarranged a projecting portion 13 projecting into the contact chamberopening. For the purpose of facilitating the insertion of contact pins,this contact chamber opening is still provided with bevelled insertionedges 14. To each contact chamber 11 there is assigned one opening whichis designed as a cutout 15 respectively extending from the outside ofthe female connector strip 12 to the contact chamber 1 1.

When equipping the female connector strip 12, the contact spring 1 ispushed to such an extent into the contact chamber 11, that its face sidewill meet against the projecting portion 13 acting as a limitingshoulder. At the same time, the locking tongue 7, which was previouslybent over towards the inside, will resiliently engage the cutout portionor recess 15, thus reassuming its original position, and protecting thecontact spring 1 against axial movements. Unlatching can'be effectedwith the aid of a simple tool which, when inserted into the recess orcutout 15, will cause the locking tongue 7 to be bent back into thecontact chamber 11.

When equipping the female connector strip 12, the particular face sideof the contact spring 1 which is in opposition to the end of the lockingtongue is inserted into the contact chamber 11. If, on this particularface side, there is provided a connecting lug 5, the correspondingbending over thereof will be effected after completion of the assembly.A connecting lug 5 arranged on the opposite face side (as shown bydotted lines), can already be bent off prior to the insertion into thecontact chamber 11.

For preventing the bent-over connecting lugs 5 from projecting over theoutside edges of the female connector strip 12, a slot 16 is provided oneach opening side of the contact chamber 11 within the female connectorstrip 12.

What is claimed is:

1. A conductor for the socket of an electrical connector, said conductorcomprising: a folded'conductive sheet metal stamping, said stampinghaving a rectangular bottom panel, first and second parallel side panelsof the same shape and size folded normal to said bottom panel, tabsfolded sharply at the upper ends of said side panels to positionseverywhere contiguous to the facing surfaces of said side panels, aspring finger cut out of each of said tabs and having mutually adjacentbase portions connected from said tabs, said fingers being bent out ofthe planes of said tabs to positions continguous to each other betweensaid tabs, all of said panels, tabs, and fingers being madeof a singlepiece of sheet metal and being integral with one another alongcorresponding edges thereof.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, including an insulator blockhaving a rectangular hole extending thereinto from one side thereof,said insulator having a shoulder at the other side thereof projectingradially into said rectangular hole, the formed stamping fittingcontiguously inside said rectangular hole abutting said shoulder, saidinsulator having a transverse hole intercepting said rectangular holeintermediate its ends, said bottom panel having a leaf spring tine cutout thereof

1. A conductor for the socket of an electrical connector, said conductorcomprising: a folded conductive sheet metal stamping, said stampinghaving a rectangular bottom panel, first and second parallel side panelsof the same shape and size folded normal to said bottom panel, tabsfolded sharply at the upper ends of said side panels to positionseverywhere contiguous to the facing surfaces of said side panels, aspring finger cut out of each of said tabs and having mutuAlly adjacentbase portions connected from said tabs, said fingers being bent out ofthe planes of said tabs to positions continguous to each other betweensaid tabs, all of said panels, tabs, and fingers being made of a singlepiece of sheet metal and being integral with one another alongcorresponding edges thereof.
 2. The invention as defined in claim 1,including an insulator block having a rectangular hole extendingthereinto from one side thereof, said insulator having a shoulder at theother side thereof projecting radially into said rectangular hole, theformed stamping fitting contiguously inside said rectangular holeabutting said shoulder, said insulator having a transverse holeintercepting said rectangular hole intermediate its ends, said bottompanel having a leaf spring tine cut out thereof by integral therewithand extending into said transverse hole.